Great White Sharks Seen Eating Whale Carcass Off Provincetown

BOSTON (CBS) – Passengers on board a charter boat off the coast of Provincetown captured photos and video of two great white sharks gnawing on a large whale carcass.

The minke whale carcass was first spotted by a fisherman on Wednesday floating about seven miles east of Plymouth Harbor in Cape Cod Bay.

A great white shark feeding on a whale carcass off the coast of Provincetown. (Image Credit: Joanne Jarzobski)

Thursday, New England Aquarium experts relocated the whale further northeast and a team from the Center for Coastal Studies analyzed the carcass.

A day later, a SeaSalt Charters boar spotted the sharks chowing down. Chad Avellar of SeaSalt Charters said it was an extremely rare sight.

“This is the first time I’ve ever seen anything close to that activity with a great white,” Avellar told WBZ NewsRadio 1030’s Doug Cope. “Every time we do this we think ‘Maybe today’s the day.’ Today was the day.”

A shark fin while it feeds on a whale carcass. (Image Credit: Joanne Jarzobski)

Aquarium officials said white sharks don’t often feed on floating, dead whales, but “for a hungry white shark, feeding on a whale carcass is easier but less tasty pickings than trying to catch a wary and elusive seal.”